Although many issues plagued the Las Vegas Raiders in their preseason opener against the Arizona Cardinals, the run defense under first-year defensive coordinator Rob Leonard was of particular concern. Yes, the secondary and pass rush struggled, but Las Vegas got gashed on the ground.
In totality, the Raiders gave up 156 yards on the ground and 4.3 yards per carry against the Cardinals, and that was without one big play skewing the numbers. Arizona pounded Las Vegas, with their top four backs averaging 5.3, 4.8, 5.9 and 5.0 yards per attempt. That's not close to good enough.
"Obviously, overall, wasn't the way we want it," Klint Kubiak said of the run defense. "We've got to improve."
That didn't materialize during the Raiders' joint practice with the Houston Texans on Tuesday, though.
Raiders' run defense struggles continued in joint practice with Texans
Now, the Texans are one of the best teams in the NFL. Their defense is probably the best, and their offensive line and running game both underwent some changes this offseason to get up to speed with the rest of the roster. But they haven't really paid off quite yet. That is, until Tuesday.
Multiple reporters noted that it was Houston's best day running the ball during training camp, and one even mentioned that the Raiders didn't have any tackles for loss during the session. Texans head coach DeMeco Ryans was thrilled with this development.
“I really liked the way we ran the football," Ryans told the media after practice. "Stuck well onto our blocks & finished well. Our running backs, they were the highlight of the day for me, the way they ran the ball, physical, low pad level, really finishing runs, they did a really nice job.”
From the Raiders' side of things, The Athletic's Ted Nguyen didn't exactly ease fan's concerns. He said that the "run defense is a big, big issue," and that the defense looked much better in a two-minute drill when running the ball wasn't really a factor. That's not what fans want to hear.
To be fair, starting safety Jeremy Chinn did illustrate a different picture when asked about how the run defense fared during Tuesday's practice, which was an emphasis of coach Kubiak's heading into the workout.
"I think it went really well," Chinn said. "We'll go back and look at the film. I'm speaking just based on walking off the field, but I feel good about it."
A lot of this good feeling had to do with an increased emphasis on communicating and getting ahead of the 8-Ball pre-snap.
"It's constant improvement. I think we take steps every single day," Chinn said. "The past week or so has definitely been an emphasis for us as far as communication from the back end to the linebackers and then from the linebackers up front. So, that's something we'll continue to to work on and get better at as these next couple weeks go."
Nakobe Dean played a similar tune in his post-practice media availability.
"We're getting better every day," Dean said. "I feel like we['re] in a good spot. We['re] transitioning to where we want to be with certain calls and certain personnel groupings that's out there to stop the run. And so, we['re] getting there."
Maybe things felt better than they looked. And that's fine, because results aren't the end-all, be-all at this point in the calendar; progress is. Moving backwards or staying the same won't get it done for a Las Vegas team that is already playing catchup in a difficult division and conference at large, though.
That said, it doesn't have to come together all at once or so quickly, as the Silver and Black should have a runway to properly rebuild and improve over the course of the season. And to be fair, the Raiders' pass rush seemed to be a lot better during Tuesday's practice, so they are fixing things.
But it doesn't sound like the run game was one of them, at least not in a big way, which is disappointing to hear after what a glaring issue it was last week. There is obviously still plenty of time for Leonard's group to fix this, and the Texans aren't the easiest opponent to make progress against.
Progress must come soon, though, even if things aren't solved. And if you ask the players, they feel like they're getting there, so maybe Raiders fans should just hold on to that for now and hope that they're right.
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